Fox Valley High has three football teams (one for 9th grade only, Junior Varsity, and the Varsity squad).  Mike knew that being 6'10", 255 lbs at age 14 would not be a fair fit on the 9th grade team, so he tried out for JV/Varsity.  Being 6" taller than the next tallest player in the group (who was also 3 years older than Mike) and being able to run nearly 60 MPH CONSTANTLY for a half-mile earned him a spot on the Varsity team in his first year.  In his first game, Fox Valley High was at home playing against Rockville High School (a team the FVH varsity team hadn't beaten in 10 years at that time).  Mike quickly proved his value to the team by having over 200 receiving yards and 3 TD's in his first high school game.  However, like the Minnesota Vikings, FVH's defense was less than perfect.  While FVH managed to put up 35 points on RHS, the defense gave up as many points as the offense scored.  Then with :02 left in the game, the place kicker for RHS made a 40-yard FG to send FVH to another defeat to Rockville.  However, this game would be the only game that FVH would lose while Mike was there.

 

The rest of the season, FVH went 9-0, scoring an average of 50 points a game (even though the defense allowed over 30 PPG).  There was a bright spot for the defense though in the rematch against Rockville at RHS.  The defense somehow managed to come together to hold Rockville's offense to just 59 yards of total offense and 3 points, while the offense put up 77 points.  In the rematch against Rockville, Mike set records in receptions/gm, receiving yards/gm, and TD's/gm that still stand today.  (22 rec, 431 yards, 7 TD's).  Fox Valley High would eventually go to the Mason Island (then East Island) playoffs where they would win their first of four consecutive Island Championships.  At the end of that season, Mike had incredible offensive numbers that would be considered fantastic in the NFL for a single season (106 rec, 1,797 yards, 25 TD's).  The switch from "fantasy" football to competitive football was a complete success for Mike.  However, the next sport he tried, didn't go over so well.

 

After the football season ended, Mike decided to try out for the basketball team.  His size would be a natural fit on the basketball floor.  However, his natural abilities proved to be a bit too perfect.  Even though he could hit a basket from the opposite end of the court every 2 or 3 tries, with even higher accuracy closer in; each time he would dunk the basketball, he would end up breaking the backboard because of all the force applied to it.  After breaking 6 or 7 backboards, including one or two made from "unbreakable" glass, the coaches decided they couldn't afford having Mike break the bachboard every time he dunked the ball, so they (reluctantly) cut him.  After that experience, Mike decided to stick to football.

 

 

Mike played for the varsity football squad again each fall for the next 3 years, helping lead FVH to 3 straight undefeated seasons, and three straight island titles.  Each year, Mike's offensive numbers continued to improve, leading up to his senior year when he became the first high school WR in history with 2,000+ receiving yards/season, as well as 30 TD catches in a season.  By the end of his final high school season, Mike had nearly 8,000 receiving yards and 102 TD catches (both all-time records).  After the season ended, scouts from just about every IFL team tried to get him to sign with their team.  However, Mike turned all of them down to go to college.  Although he wanted to play pro football, Mike wanted to go to college ever since he was 3.  Two years earlier, Mike took an extensive college aptitude test, which included an exam as well as testimony from past teachers and his parents.  Not only did Mike have a perfect score on the exam, when the administrators learned about his mathematical and scientific past, their jaws almost literally dropped to the floor.  As a result, Mike's test was given to Oakwood College (the most prestigeous college on Vulpes) for review by the admissions board.  The board was so impressed with the results that they awarded him their annual "Golden Oak" Award, which included a $1,000,000 scholarship*.  Mike was already committed to go to Oakwood College after graduating from FVH.

 

The next fall, Mike began attending Oakwood College.  Even though they had a football team there, Mike decided NOT to try out for the team for two reasons.  First of all, he wanted to get his degrees (yes, I said DEGREES) in Vulpine Law as well as Emergency Medicine.  Secondly, he told all the IFL scouts that wanted to sign him that he would come to the IFL after he was done with college.  Fortunately for them, they wouldn't have long to wait.  Because of his incredible intelligence and his desire to help others, Mike earned BOTH degrees in just ONE YEAR!  As soon as they found out that he had graduated from college, the IFL scouts quickly came back to him, trying to persuade Mike to join their team.  While he was in college, Mike decided that he would play football for his hometown team.

 

 

After signing a 3-year, $20 million contract in May of 2994, Mike was ready to start playing pro football for the Wakita Yellowjackets that fall.  The combination of a legendary quarterback (Dean Mariner...the IFL equivalent of Dan Marino) plus their new hometown hero brought a sea of Yellow and Black to Wakita County Stadium every home game (AKA: "The Hive").  The combination of legendary QB and the outstanding rookie WR provided the crowd with everything they expected, and then some.  In his rookie season alone, Mike caught 25 TD passes from Mariner for over 2,000 yards.  This led to Dean Mariner's record breaking season with over 5,000 passing yards and 54 passing TD's.  The new QB/WR combo led Wakita to a 15-1 regular season and the first of three consecutive IFL championships.  After the 2994 IFL season, Dean Mariner retired from the IFL having won 4 IFL championships with Dolphin City and Wakita (at that time, it was a record for most IFL championships won while an individual player was on a championship team).

 

The 2995 season brought a new quarterback to the Yellowjackets.  With the new quarterback, brought some concerns about the passing offense.  Even with Mike's spectacular receiving talents, the fans weren't confident in the rookie QB's passing ability.  These concerns started to come true when the QB threw 5 INT's in his first IFL game, even though he also threw 3 TD passes (all to Mike).  In addition, Wakita's defense had lost a lot of their key players to free agency and retirement in the off-season and gave up 49 points to Dolphin City (28 of which as a result of 4 of the 5 INT's).  After starting the 2995 season going 0-2, the rookie QB was benched for the more experienced backup.  From that point on, Wakita wouldn't lose another game for a year and a half.  During the 14-0 run, Mike didn't have as many TD catches as he did his first season, but he still had more than enough to get the job done.  During his second year, Mike began to use more of his high school football talents, leaping 40 feet into the air to catch an "uncatchable" pass and landing on a dime inbounds for a huge gain.  Mike also started to demonstrate other talents that he had.  In a game that Wakita needed to win to clinch the Northern League regular season title,  when the team was down by 6 points w/:05 left in the 4th Quarter.  The coach called for a trick play to win the game, he called for a role-reversal between his offensive battery.  When the ball was snapped, the QB threw a lateral back to Mike and then ran free into the open field.  Mike hurled the football at nearly 90 MPH to the quarterback in the open.  The ball was moving so fast that none of the defensive players for the other team saw it until it was too late.  Mike had put the ball right in the numbers of the quarterback, knocking the wind out of him, but coming up with the football.  The trick play worked, and with no time left on the clock, Wakita tied the game and then kicked the game-winning extra point to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs and Mike's second championship ring in as many years.  However, this would be the beginning of the end of the "glory days" for the Yellowjackets and it would also lead to a new beginning for Mike.

 

During the 2996 IFL season, the Yellowjackets continued to dominate the IFL, winning the first 8 games of the season.  Mike continued to do his part by catching 13 TD passes in those first eight wins, but it wasn't just about offense anymore.  The defense has improved significantly during the off-season and was only giving up an average of 10 points per game in the first eight games.  However, when the Yellowjackets played their arch-rival Northside (now Tacoma) the defense faced its toughest challenge.  Northside's offense was even more prolific than Wakita's averaging nearly 50 points per game versus about 45 PPG for Wakita.  The game turned out to be a "shootout" with both offenses scoring at will.  In that game, Mike set all-time single game receiving records in receptions, total receiving yards, and receiving TD's (22 rec, 398 yards, 6 TD's), he also threw a touchdown pass to one of the other receivers.  In all, Mike accounted for 43 of Wakita's 63 points that day.  However, that would not be enough to outscore Northside.  With two seconds left in regulation (tied at 63-63), the place kicker for Northside hit a record-breaking 66 yard field goal to win the game for the Polars and end Wakita's 22-game regular season winning streak.  The rest of the season, Wakita won 6 out of the remaining 7 games to go back to the playoffs once again, eventually bringing home their third consecutive title (and up to this point most recent).  During the off-season, the Yellowjackets would undergo some major changes.

 

After coaching Wakita for 15 years and winning 4 championships with the team, their legendary head coach Herbert Browning retired from the league after being paralyzed in a car accident during a winter storm.  In addition to that, Mike was a free agent and had come off of a record-breaking season with over 2,500 receiving yards and 30 TD catches.  Like before, every IFL team wanted to sign him and began to try and coax him to their team.  However, at that time, Mike wanted to stay in Wakita and figured that none of the other teams had a chance to coax him away from them.  But as the off-season wore on, things began to change.  The first thing that started to change his mind was when Wakita announced who their next head coach would be.  Their new head coach turned out to be an ex-sports gambler from the U.S. who also happened to coach for several lesser known colleges in the U.S. and also for the U of MAI in Dolphin City for the past three years.  Having visited the U.S. multiple times on business trips, Mike recognized the person's name as soon as he heard it.  He knew that he lost his coaching job at a small college in Texas after it was discovered that he was betting on sports, not only pro sports, but on HIS OWN TEAM!  Mike didn't trust the new coach and vowed not to re-sign.  The front office tried to persuade him to change his mind by taking him for a night on the town, which proved to be the final straw (see Episode 3-6).  After the strip club incident, Mike vowed that he would never play for a team that has a corrupt coach and executive staff.

 

By now, Mike and Michelle had turned the television network that was started by their father into the largest business on Vulpes, with a net worth (at that time) of nearly $200 TRILLION.  During the regular season, Mike heard that the IFL was thinking about expanding to new cities.  In 2995, Mike and Michelle had purchased all of Juneau County (now Victoria county) as well as the towns within for $100 billion.  They had planned on building their new worldwide headquarters in the town of Lazbuddie (now Victoria).  When construction was finished in mid-2996, the town of Lazbuddie quickly grew from a population of 5,000 to a city of 500,000 in just 6 months.  With the population of the city increasing rapidly with the largest business on Vulpes in town and several other new and lucrative developments going up.  Mike and Michelle decided to try and convince the IFL expansion committee to build an IFL franchise in Lazbuddie.

 

 

In early March of 2997, the IFL approved Mike and Michelle's request to build an IFL franchise in Lazbuddie (now Victoria).  The request was granted in time for the IFL draft a month later.  Normally, it would take several years for a franchise to be built in a new city, at least it would in the NFL (mostly to allow time for an appropriate stadium to be built).  However, Vulpine construction technology is much more advanced than that of Earth.  In addition, Mike and Michelle hired more than 10,000 construction workers to get the stadium built in time for the 2997 Football Season.  By mid-July, a little more than 4 months after they received permission to start a franchise in Lazbuddie, Juneau County Stadium (now Mason Arena) was completed.  Once the safety inspectors toured the $250 million facility and ruled it to be structurally sound, the IFL gave the Lazbuddie Lions (the team name before the name of the city was changed) the green light to start playing football this season.

 

Before the season began, sports reporters and analysts broke down what they thought of the new franchise.  Initially, they thought that Lazbuddie would be fortunate to win more than 2 games in their inaugural season (even with Mike's playmaking abilities).  A lot of the players that were drafted were relative unknowns coming into the IFL.  However, Mike saw what they were capable of and believed in them, that's why they were drafted.  In addition, the sports analysts greatly underestimated the abilities of a certain golden fox named Tim Atkinson (one of Mike and Michelle's cousins).  They thought since he played college football for a Technical College that he wouldn't be able to make it in the IFL, even though he had record-breaking numbers there.  But what they DIDN'T know was that Mike and Tim were VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL (looking more like brothers than cousins).  Even though Mike was slightly larger and MUCH stronger than his cousin (mainly because Mike is an alpha golden fox), Tim was very strong as well.  This point would quickly be proven in Lazbuddie's first game.

 

The Lions opened their inaugural season against Northside.  The offensive-minded Polars thought that this would be a piece of cake and they would probably blowout the Lions by 40 or 50 points.  However, they would quickly be proven dead wrong.  The combination of Mike's unbelievable receiving capabilities and Tim's power running tore apart Northside's fragile defense while Lazbuddie's defense gave the high-powered Polar offense fits, leading to 7 sacks and 5 turnovers.  By the end of the game, the Vulpine sports world was shocked to see that the final score was 56-14 in favor of the LIONS!  Lazbuddie became the first expansion team in IFL history to win their very first IFL game.  After the shocking "upset", most of the analysts believed that this victory was just a fluke and the team couldn't possibly perform like that all season long.  But they were proven wrong yet again as Lazbuddie didn't only win their first game, they won their first EIGHT games (by an average margin of 30 points) before finally losing to Northside in the rematch.  The Lions went on to post the best regular season mark for an expansion team in their inauguaral season in IFL history at 14-2, becoming only the second team to make the playoffs in their first year in existence.  But the "miracle season" didn't stop there.  The Lions continued to dominate in the post-season, eventually winning the first of SEVEN consecutive IFL championships.  Mike had proven that the team that he and Michelle created was not an "expansion" team, but a championship team, a feat that no other expansion team had or has yet to achieve.  Still, after the amazing season put together by Lazbuddie, the critics continued to claim that Lazbuddie was a fluke and would not be able to do it again in the next season.

 

During the off-season, Mike began to expand his arsenal on the gridiron.  He already knew that he could catch and throw the football.  Now, because of his large size and immense power, he started to pratice playing on DEFENSE as well as offense.  The results were mind-boggling, during their first season of existence the Lazbuddie defense allowed an average of 19 points per game, while Mike played on offense exclusively.  But in the 2998 preseason, when Lazbuddie went 4-0, the defense only gave up 8 points per game...with no change in offensive output.  The first game of the new season would be at Wakita (a team that Lazbuddie beat 3 times in 2997).  Mike was ready to play his former team once again, but mother nature intervened.  A super hurricane hit on of the IBN affiliates in Black Island head-on, causing serious damage.  Mike was called away on business to assess the damage and help the station become operational again.  As a result, the Lions went into Wakita without their star player and got tore up, losing 56-3.  When Mike returned and saw how the team did and how the analysts were tearing up the already fragile team spirit, Mike became furious and vowed that this would never happen again while he was in the IFL.  The next day, after talking to Michelle, she agreed to run the network during the IFL season, while they shared the responsibilities in the off-season.  From that point on, Lazbuddie would not lose another regular or post-season game for nearly FIVE YEARS!  Lazbuddie won all 15 on their remaining regular-season games (including a 77-0 laugher against Wakita at home) and won the IFL championship for a second straight year.  Once the second title had been won, The Lazbuddie Lions changed their team name to the Lazbuddie Stars and shortly thereafter, Lazbuddie was re-named Victoria.  After the 2998 season, the same analysts who said that the Stars were an over-acheiving team did a complete 180 and finally gave the team the respect that it deserved.

 

For the next 2 IFL seasons Mike helped lead the Stars to two 22-0 regular seasons, and 2 more IFL championships.  However, at the end of the 3000 IFL season, Mike's personal life had changed.  He had recently married Penelope and were expecting their first litter in the spring.  Having six IFL championship rings, more than 10,000 yards receiving, more than 100 receiving TD's as well as many other gaudy stats, Mike felt that his job was done and retired from the IFL to manage IBN and to spend more time with his family.  But his influence in the IFL would continue well after retiring.  Towards the end of the 3000 IFL season, the coach cleared his twin sister Michelle to play in the final game of the regular season, becoming the first female IFL player in the history of the league.  The results were absolutely astonishing.  Not only did Victoria win the game 126-0, but the twins used their lifetime bond to score at will against a porous defense.  They had benched their normal quarterback to allow Mike to QB the team for this game.  From the very first pass of the game (a 66-yard TD pass to Michelle), the Victoria coaches were astonished to see that Michelle had nearly the exact same abilities that her brother had.  Not only that, but Michelle's smaller size made her much faster than her brother (how does 80 MPH sound?).  Even though her overall strength wasn't as high Mike's, very few defenders could catch her (if any).  When Mike retired, the Stars were losing a two-way player.  However, they got another spectacular WR in return.

 

 

Mike relied on his sister to carry on the football legacy. So, during the off-season Mike volunteered to be Michelle's personal trainer.  Not to play favorites, he also volunteered to be a personal trainer for his little sister Jennie (who was a two-way player in the WIFL).  From the moment he started training his sisters, Michelle and Jennie started to have record-breaking seasons in their respective leagues.  In fact, as of the end of the 3004 IFL season, Michelle is approaching 100 career receiving TD's and Mike's record in that category.  Meanwhile, Jennie has received offers from 4 IFL teams (including Victoria) to sign with them.

 

Despite the positives in the IFL with Mike and Michelle playing in the league, Victoria's 105-game winning streak, and record attendance for IFL games, there were some drawbacks.  Going back to when Wakita hired a new coach (who turned out to be a sports gambler).  During the 3000 IFL season in Wakita, the IFL regulations committee learned that the coach was betting on his own team.  The IFL has a zero-tolerance to gambling, which results in immediate termination (regardless of who you are).  When Mike learned of the accusations, he acted as the lead investigator in the practices of the Wakita Yellowjackets.  The committee learned that not only did they have a gambling coach, they had serious problems with sexual harrassment, underpaying certain employees, and also steroid abuse.  The sexual harrassment and steriod abuse started AFTER Mike had left the team, but the underpayment went on for over a decade until it was caught.  After the 3002 IFL season, The IFL committee voted unanimously to "kill" the Wakita franchise.  It would have been carried out if Mike hadn't intervened.  Wakita was the city that he and his sisters grew up in.  The people of Wakita still loved him, Michelle and Jennie (despite playing for another team).  He offered to buy the team and turn it into another Victoria.  The IFL committee saw Victoria as a model of greatness in the league, with excellent management, fair wages, and equal opportunity.  In addition, the committee knew Mike's reputation and his family's history.  They eventually agreed to spare the franchise as long as he and/or Michelle owned it.  When it was announced in Wakita that Mike and Michelle were saving their team from the proverbial "death penalty", the people were so grateful that they unanimously voted in 3003 to change the name of Wakita to Mason City.  Later that year, the re-vamped Mason City Foxes took to the field under new management.  That year, the franchise only went 11-11, but it was their best season since 2998.

 

Towards the end of 3003, the IFL regulations committee looked at the renovated franchise and saw the exact same things they saw in Victoria.  The committee was so impressed with Mike that they offered him a seat on the committee that was vacant for months after one of their most respected and loyal members retired after nearly 40 years.  Mike immediately took the open seat and is still a member of the committee as of this day.  Since joining, there have been no major incidents in the IFL.